Assembly procedure for the silicon pixel ladder for PHENIX silicon vertex tracker

The silicon vertex tracker (VTX) will be installed in the summer of 2010 to enhance the physics capabilities of the Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interaction eXperiment (PHENIX) experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The VTX consists of two types of silicon detectors: a pixel detector and a strip detector. The pixel detector consists of 30 pixel ladders placed on the two inner cylindrical layers of the VTX. The ladders are required to be assembled with high precision, however, they should be assembled in both cost and time efficient manner. We have developed an assembly bench for the ladder with several assembly fixtures and a quality assurance (Q/A) system using a 3D measurement machine. We have also developed an assembly procedure for the ladder, including a method for dispensing adhesive uniformly and encapsulation of bonding wires. The developed procedures were adopted in the assembly of the first pixel ladder and satisfy the requirements.